Prairie Style Cowden House Hits the Green Mark in Kansas

The Cowden House is a modern and green interpretation of Prairie School architectural style in Kansas. Designed by DRAW Architecture, this home features a variety of sustainable and efficient strategies to earn it a Gold Certification from NAHB’s National Green Building Standard. Passive solar design is combined with advanced building techniques and geothermal heating and cooling to create a classic home that is quietly green.

Located in Prairie Village, a suburb of Kansas City, KS, the Cowden House is built on a lot formerly occupied by another house. The old house was deconstructed with all the waste recycled. Even the foundation was reused, crushed and employed as backfill for the new home.

Designed by DRAW Architecture, the home was completed in the Prairie Style and features horizontal lines, large overhangs and hipped roofs. Orientation and passive solar design work with the overhangs to allow for natural daylighting, letting in heat in the winter and shading the interior from the sun in the summer.

The home was built to avoid removing or damaging any of the existing trees on the lot, and the mature trees continue to provide shading for the home. A tight thermal envelope was created using insulated windows and advanced framing construction, all in all reducing thermal breaks. Finally, energy efficient heating and cooling is provided via a geothermal system with wells drilled below the driveway. The home’s eco and energy strategies earned it a Gold Certification through the NAHB’s National Green Building Standard program.